The Boombang
by Cubby250
Summary: A quick tale about what happens when a Lost Boy is given a "boombang" by an elf.
I've discovered when I daydream, it's best done alone, lying in a large field filled with grass, dandelions and clover on a sunny, summer afternoon. That way the sun is either warming my back or my stomach. I'm not walking so I won't have to worry about running into a tree or into the river. Clover is important in case I want to make a wish, and dandelions so I can chase the seeds after I'm done daydreaming. Alone isn't important or even desirable for the most part, but it just happens that way.

This particular summer afternoon I was dreaming about rescuing Leo from pirates. It was one of those silly daydreams I wander into sometimes when I'm feeling like it might be nice to be the heroic Lost Boy instead of the most cowardly or the one that tries to make the others laugh. I had 'paused' the daydream as I tried to figure out exactly how I could overcome three pirates and Cap'n Hook with a wooden sword when there was a 'thump' next to me. My eyes opened to see Tigger sitting next to me with a v-shaped item in his hands. "What's that?" I asked as I deleted the daydream from my muddled mind.

"One of the elves gave it to me. He said it was a boombang, I think. He kind of had an accent."

He handed it to me. It was made of polished wood and was light. It was thicker at the center of the arms and tapered down towards the sides. "What's it do?"

He took it back from me. "You're supposed to be able to throw it and it comes back to you." He gave it a light underhand toss. It flew through the air for a few meters and landed on the ground. We both sat there expectantly for a few seconds, but it just lay on the ground not doing anything. "I guess it's broken."

"That's probably why he gave it to you. You know how it is. Somehow we end up with everything that doesn't quite work right. Like that mirror that shows what may be in the future but most of the time doesn't."

"How about that lamp?" Tigger grinned. "Remember you rubbed it thinking you were going to get three wishes and when the genie came out he demanded three wishes from you?"

"Ugh. Don't remind me. I still have nightmares over that."

"Could have been worse."

"No it couldn't. I had to give him the last blueberries and I haven't had any since."

"Like you need them," Tigger laughed. "Hey, do me a favor. Go grab me that boombang thing, will ya?"

"Why don't you get it yourself?"

"Because you've been sitting here longer than I have. Pleeeeeeeeease? I'm bushed."

I staggered up to my feet with a sigh. It was impossible to argue with such logic. At least it was where Tig was concerned. I walked over to the boombang, picked it up, and tossed it over to him.

"It worked!" he shouted so loudly that I jumped a foot in the air. "It really worked."

"Whatcha mean it worked? I threw it to you."

"Yeah, but the elf said when I threw it, it would come back to me. It didn't say how or that someone would have to bring it back to me. He just said it'd come back." He laughed and tossed it again. "Fetch, boy."

"That's going to happen," I said rolling my eyes. I walked over to where it was now lying, once again picked it up by one of the sides of the 'v' and threw it with all my might towards where the woods met the meadow. I turned back and started walking to where Tig was sitting.

"Aw, what'd ya do that for? I was having fun." He grinned in that way of his that almost forced you to grin back. It was no wonder he got away with so much. The grin suddenly ran away from his face and he yelled "Duck!"

Any other person would have dropped to the ground. Sadly, I'm not any other person and instead of ducking, I started to turn around. There was a 'swishing' noise immediately followed by a bloom of pain in the back of my head. I did end up dropping to the ground, but it was completely involuntary. I was rewarded with a full constellation of stars, along with at least three moons and a comet or two. When I opened my eyes, Tig's face was above mine. Actually there were two Tig's looking down at me with concerned expressions on their faces. I squeezed my eyes shut and reopened them to find only one Tig. "What happened?" I mumbled. My head was throbbing and when I touched the back of it, I was almost sick from how much pain there was. "I feel like I've been hit by a unicorn."

I slowly sat up, creating more stars and comets. Tig gently pulled the hood from my head and whistled. "You should see the goose egg you got back there."

"I can't. If I tried to spin around fast enough to see it, I'd probably die. At least it's a goose egg and not a duck egg."

"Lame, Cubbs. Very lame. It's a good thing you got all that mane back there." He picked up the boombang and looked at it. "You don't seem to have broken it at all. At least not any more than it was broken."

"You mean that's what hit me?"

"Yeah. It came flying from wherever and beaned you one."

"No wonder the elf gave it to you. It's not only broken, but it's dangerous too." I thought about it for a second. "How come it didn't attack you when you threw it? Wait a second. This isn't some sort of joke is it?"

Tigger looked as innocent as a person could. "Are you crazy? I'd never do that. I mean, I might do something to make you fall or something like that, but not brain you." Tig's hood was pulled over his head, so it was hard to tell if he was smirking or not. He sounded sincere, though.

"Maybe you should throw the thing away since it doesn't seem to come back to you." I said with a wary look at the boombang. My head had stopped throbbing (maybe it was a good thing it had been awhile since I'd had my mane shorn) and I heaved myself up to my feet.

"Yeah, but I have a better idea. Follow me."

Against my better judgment I started following him. "Did this elf say anything when he gave it to you?" I was sort of suspicious about elves bearing gifts for Lost Boys. They wouldn't intentionally hurt us, but we kinda figured there were times they secretly rooted for the pirates.

"Not really. He just said that he'd gotten it from a wager with a dwarf and didn't have any real use for it so thought I might like it. He seemed to think something was funny, but I figured it was cuz he'd beaten the dwarf at whatever." I didn't say anything at the moment because we were climbing a hill and I was too busy using my breath for breathing instead of talking.

"Do you know who he was?" I finally gasped out when we reached the top of the hill.

Tig shook his head. "I don't think I've ever seen him before. Course half of them wear the same tunic looking thing. He had a shield with a bear being attacked by a dragon painted on it. I'm pretty sure I'd have remembered that."

"Oh," I said in a small voice. That sounded like the same elf that might have somehow gotten into the way of a mud balloon that I had launched simply as an experiment about a week ago. I'd tied this huge elastic thing that had washed up between two trees and had launched the mud balloon to see what the range of it might be. The fact that Leo and Red had been going down the path below was just an unfortunate coincidence. Almost as unfortunate as the fact that the elf had been passing them at the time on a unicorn that was so white it almost glowed. At least it did until the mud balloon had hit. I'd fled the scene as fast as I could gallop and was pretty sure I hadn't left any traces.

We started up another hill and finally reached the cliffs that overlook the sea. "I'm going to throw this in the sea so it can go bug someone else," Tigger said in a determined voice. He flung the boombang as hard as he could out over the sea.

"Awesome idea," I said as we watched it sail out over the waves. We both turned and started back, Tig leading the way. "So, uh, did this elf say anything else?" I don't know whether Tig answered or not because the 'swishing' sound came back and once more I saw stars, comets and moons.

I sat up and rubbed the back of my head where another lump had appeared right below the first one. "Why me?" I demanded. "You threw it. Why didn't it whack you in the head this time?"

Tigger shrugged. He looked a little spooked and kicked at the boombang with his paw-moc. "Do you suppose it's cursed?"

"Not as much as I think I am," I said with a groan. Tigger picked up the boombang and stomped to the edge of the cliff. "Wait!" I yelled as Tigger got ready to fling it out again. He looked back at me with a questioning look. "Maybe you should just drop it over the side instead."

"Good idea." He looked over the edge of the cliff and dropped the boombang. As he dropped it, I threw myself flat on the ground, pulled the hood of the bear pelt over my head, and closed my eyes as tightly as I could. I may have whimpered, but maybe not. An eternity passed before I heard Tigger's voice.

"Whatcha doing?"

I snuck a peek through one squinted eye to see his feet in front of me. "Did it work?"

"Yeah. I watched it splash into the water. It's just floating now."

I believed him, but quickly crawled to where he'd been and looked down. The boombang was serenely floating on the water, disappearing every now and then as a wave passed over it but quickly reappearing. "Sweet! I guess we don't have to worry about that anymore."

Tigger looked as relieved as I felt. I stood up and we started back again. "Wait a second. This time I'll lead." Tig looked slightly put out over that, but finally agreed. It wasn't until we'd gone down the first hill that he stopped looking back over his shoulder.

We got back to Hangman's Tree without incident. Roo took a look at my new lumps and forced some willow-bark tea into me. There are things that taste worse than stew. I spent some time at the common room table writing in a journal and losing several checker matches with Leo. It must have been right before evening when Surefoot came dropping through his trapdoor. "Hey come look at this," he yelled. Everyone in the common room turned to see him holding up the boombang. "I found this on the beach. Doesn't it look cool?"

Tig and I exchanged looks. I don't know what he did, but I dove under the common room table, climbed into my pallet and pulled the furs and blankets over my head.


End file.
